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Every so often I’ll get a question around here that makes me feel like it needs more than just a quick answer. Such is the case with an anonymous question I received yesterday that goes a little something like this: …

Doctors' use of Caesarean section to deliver babies has nearly doubled in 15 years to reach "alarming" proportions in some countries, a study says. Rates surged from about 16 million births (12%) in 2000 to an estimated 29.7 million (21%) in 2015, the report in the medical journal The Lancet said. The nation with the highest rate for using the surgery to assist childbirth is the Dominican Republic with 58.1%.

When she miscarried in her mid-30s, Alexandra Kimball felt profoundly alone: abandoned by a feminist movement that didn't recognize her loss, accused by conventional wisdom of waiting too long to conceive, and deprived by society of the rituals that mark other forms of grief.

When I look at what women face giving birth in America today, I notice some historical issues resurfacing. We've come a long way over the past century, but there's a long journey ahead before pregnancy and childbirth are safe for every mother. What surprises me the most is that the United States is the only developed country whose maternal mortality has been consistently on the rise since 1990.

Dealing with an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy is a difficult experience for anyone. But for teenagers, who have to juggle increasing, and increasingly complicated, financial and legal barriers to abortion access, “difficult” becomes nearly impossible. And it shouldn’t be. For instance, 21 states require parental consent before a teenager can have an abortion; 13 mandate that at least one parent be notified; and five states mandate both consent and notification.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel alert late Friday that advises pregnant women to avoid traveling to Brazil and about a dozen countries in the Americas where a mosquito-borne virus has been linked to brain damage in babies. Local transmission of the Zika virus has been found in 16 countries and territories: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico...

Four prison guards in northern Vietnam have been suspended for alleged negligence after a female inmate on death row for drug trafficking became pregnant, which means her death sentence will be commuted to life in prison once her child is born, the AP reports. The Thanh Nien newspaper says Nguyen Thi Hue, 42, was arrested in 2012 for drug trafficking and sentenced to death in 2014. A court rejected her appeal the same year.

Janet Jackson might soon become the new symbol of the rise of the 50-year-old mom. The 49-year-old singer/songwriter, who turns 50 next month, announced to fans in a video on Twitter on Wednesday that she would be delaying the second leg of her "Unbreakable" world tour because she and her husband are focused on family planning. "I thought it was important that you be the first to know. My husband and I are planning our family, so I'm going to have to delay the tour," she said with a smile.

Ana Gabriela do Prado Paschoal sat at a desk in a small medical exam room and began a familiar, heartbreaking ritual. Your baby’s head is smaller than normal, Dr. Paschoal told the anxious mother, who had contracted the Zika virus while pregnant.

For the first time in history, scientists have found a way to safely send drugs into the placenta during pregnancy. This finding holds the possibility of one day being able to avoid premature births and treat common complications that often occur during early pregnancy. At least 10 percent of pregnant women experience serious complications due to error in placenta functioning. This new way of administering drugs without harming the fetus could eliminate such malfunction.

For years, Zofran was the most popular morning-sickness medication in the U.S. Now it’s being accused of causing birth defects. The larger issue is a drug-safety system that excludes women from clinical trials, potentially putting them and their babies at risk.

Paracetamol, commonly known as Panadol and Tylenol, has long been considered a safe medication for pregnant women to take for pain, fever, and even the flu. But a new study suggests that the risk of children experiencing autism spectrum disorder symptoms can be traced back to their mom’s use of OTC painkillers. A team of researchers in Spain studied 2,644 mother-child pairs, starting with pregnancy and going through the child’s fifth birthday. Women were asked if they ever took paracetamol during pregnancy, and if so, if their use was sporadic or persistent.

Here’s one way not to prevent a young girl from getting pregnant: Ask her to care for a virtual baby. New research finds that teenagers given lifelike baby dolls (pictured) as part of a program to dissuade them from wanting a real baby became pregnant at a higher rate than peers in a control group. The study followed 3000 Australian girls who enrolled when they were between 13 and 15 years old and were followed until they turned 20. Only half the group received the intervention, which encourages girls to think twice about becoming pregnant because babies have intensive, constant needs that can compromise a teenager’s lifestyle and goals.

When she was born her entire foot was the size of a fingernail and she weighed no more than a bell pepper. Nine months later, the world’s smallest baby Emilia Grabarczyk has defied expectations and continues to make giant leaps. Born in the Witten, west Germany, measuring just 22 centimetres and weighing a mere eight ounces, it was feared she would not survive.

Italian prosecutors have begun an inquiry into the death after a miscarriage of a woman of 32 who was pregnant with twins. The family of Valentina Milluzzo said the doctor treating her refused to abort the foetuses because he was a "conscientious objector" to abortion. The hospital involved has categorically rejected the family's claims. The woman's burial has been postponed while further investigations are carried out.

Pregnancy reduces grey matter in specific parts of a woman's brain, helping her bond with her baby and prepare for the demands of motherhood. Scans of 25 first-time mums showed these structural brain changes lasted for at least two years after giving birth.
European researchers said the scale of brain changes during pregnancy were akin to those seen during adolescence. But they found no evidence of women's memory deteriorating. Many women have said they feel forgetful and emotional during pregnancy and put it down to "pregnancy" or "baby" brain - and, it seems, with good reason.

A grieving mother whose son died only 11 days after birth resolved to donate as much breast milk as she could, which wound up totaling 2,370 ounces. Ariel Matthews gave birth to son Ronan in October and documented his story on Instagram. The posts revealed Matthews had a miscarriage and a stillbirth last year, after which she also donated breast milk.

Melissa Kayser had lost hope of becoming a mom after having nine miscarriages – until her older sister stepped in. Kayser, 33, had been trying to have a baby for three years when doctors finally suggested, after fertility treatments and IVF, that she should consider a surrogate.

Maddi Runkles is an 18-year-old senior at Heritage Academy, a small, conservative Christian school in Hagerstown, Maryland. She is also pregnant and has admitted to breaking the pledge that all Heritage students sign… By Ruth Graham.